Madison Police Chief Noble Wray
The Madison police chief joined the growing ranks of citizens who want an explanation from Gov. Scott Walker on his fake Koch call.
"I would like to hear more of an explanation from Governor Walker as to what exactly was being considered, and to what degree it was discussed by his cabinet members," said Chief Noble Wray. "I find it very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers."
In the 20-minute chat, Walker admitted he considered planting troublemakers in the huge crowd of peaceful protesters at the State Capitol.
The Wisconsin governor took a call from a man identifying himself as the über wealthy Republican donor, David Koch. It was actually the left-leaning blogger, Ian Murphy, which we had on our show last night.
The Madison Police Department has nothing but praise for protesters. "Crowd behavior has been exemplary, and thousands of Wisconsin citizens are to be commended for the peaceful ways in which they have expressed First Amendment rights," the department told a local paper.
Though, the governor said he wasn’t phased by the prank and has nothing to be ashamed of as far as specific talking points go.
Leave a Comment:
What does it take to unseat a governor?
What is wrong with the people of WI? This man thought about planting trouble makers to cause trouble in the protests? Supposing shots might have been fired? How would the great people of WI felt about their governor then? Please people - demand his resignation - sooner rather than later. I hope the dems do not come back. This man and his party is out of control. I'll be watching and praying for the dems and the people of Wi. Shame on him and shame on the Koch brothers. Do you all want these guys to own you?
The comments to the fake Koch could violate the RICO Act which prohibits govt. employees from plotting with private parties to benefit the private party.
Why doesn't the Wisconsin Legislature introduce a Bill to change the governor's name to Scott "Pinkerton." That's about the only thing he hasn't tried as of yet. Let's face it. Wisconsin's governor is trying to act like a thug when he is really just a punk.
When did collective begging by public employees become the norm? This "if you don't like it here, quit" attitude is truly alive and well in Wisconsin. Union busting is union busting whether it's done by a governor, county executive or mayor. Perhaps the governor should take a lesson from the federal sector where people a lot smarter than him have found that labor organizations and collective bargaining in the civil service are in the public interest. See 5 USC Section 7101. Scott Pinkerton, "learn it, know it, live it."
Hang in there Labor!!!!
The police chiefs comments about Walkers considerations just kind of made this whole thing not so funny anymore...
I urge everyone to vote on the msnbc website asking where you stand on this issue. Please, if you believe this guy is wrong - vote in defense of the unions. We are not all terrible people. We are your neighbors who get up day after day and go to jobs. We work hard and don't want more than we are entitled to. Just a fair deal.
It's real easy to solve the deficit problem at both the federal and state levels:
1) abolish the tax breaks for the wealthy
2) stop the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which we can't afford
3) make religions pay their fair share of taxes
Let's see the "brave" bulllies (the Walkers and the Christies) man-up and do what's really necessary here.
In addition to payback for working against him in the last election, I believe Gov. Walker is busting the unions in order to be able to privatize crucial government functions to his favorite companies. Corrections and security functions will go to Wackenhunt, utilities and power to Koch. Education will be defunded to the point where everyone will be offered vouchers to go "buy" their education. He has already tried this on a small scale when he was a Milwaukee County Exec, but was thwarted by the collective bargaining law. These companies, if they even hire Wisconsinites, will pay drastically lower wages and no benefits, with the $ going into CEOs pockets. There will be no real jobs-but a crush to the entire tax base of the state. His policies will be devastating to the state.
I blame Brett Favre
This Gov seems to be a loon!
This is my state and you would be sickened by the absolute arrogance of this governor. He has looked right into the camera and lied and lied and lied. And then this koch phone call nails him and he lies again and becomes more arrogant than ever. Listen to this call again, he has a lot to explain. His attitude is really disgusting and the loathing he has for we protesters, who happen to also be citizens of his state ( but I guess you only matter if you are a hard-right bought-and-paid-for republican), is beyond comprehension. I am not union, but I joined the protest because I want my government fair and transparent. You don't ram a bill that is a 142 page blatant power grab through in 5 days. (My fab-14 dems are super heroes to me!) And you show respect for the people who make this a great state. As I said I was in the huge march on Saturday and it was peaceful, even though the kochs bussed in tea partiers to agitate. But it was the makeup of the crowd that I was proud to be a part of: families with children who made their own signs in crayon that said 'i love my teachers', firefighters, pilots, senior men with hands that were big and rough but their eyes were soft, farmers, nurses, snow plow drivers (thank God for them), students of all ages, theater people, teachers, city workers, school support staff, police, people in wheelchairs,counselors, musicians, grandmothers and grandfathers whose families carried the signs for them and held their hands, just people like me who carried a sign that said 'I forgot to thank you, but I will not miss the chance to support you', people with mental and physical challenges, babies in buggies with young parents, some students with dreds walked beside the teamster with a buzz cut, and students who held on to people so overwhelmed by the fear of the financial cuts that they just wept, and that was just my little window into the 70,000 peaceful protesters. And this is the group that this governor has such contempt for, considered endagering. Pray for us and join us in Madison Saturday if you can...you will never regret it and it may change you forever...that's what happened to me.
Hi Lawrence. How about a segment on Frank Zeilder's (Milwaukee's mayor 1948-1960, socialist) views on collective bargaining rights for public sector workers? And FDR's for that matter. Probably wouldn't fit with the agenda.
And what union does this cop belong to?
Same goes with Ohio's gov Kasich--he needs to explain why he is so tight with Walker. Ian busted both of them with his genius prank call. We need Ian in public office as a muckraker to get the crooks out whichever party they are in.
Oh by the way Kasich called a police office an idiot because he gave his majesty a ticket.
Please, the name of the police chief? He had the courage to take a stand and tell it like it is. He needs us to stand by him and thank him.
The impersonator broke no laws. There isn't a law that says we can't do that. Scott Walker, however, would have been inciting violence had he actually planted troublemakers in the crowd of protesters. There are laws against that.
I think a recall needs to be initiated at this point. It's doubtful WI would re-elect this guy!
Just how naive can people be? Who introduced the word, “Troublemakers” to the conversation; the liberal liar or the governor? I have no doubt that the governor and his team considered introducing anti-protestor to the game, but doubt the word troublemakers came up in those conversations. These are progressive tactics. I would wager to say far more damming discussions have taken place between the MSNBC editorial show personnel while planning their collective assault on conservatives. Remember the racial slurs and spitting on representatives by Tea Party members that were not supported by video or any other evidence. You can’t tell me Maddow, Ed, O’Donald, and Matthews didn’t have a few disgusting conversation while conspiring against conservatives. In this case the governor may very will have considered or discussed various courses of action. The question is “What action did he ultimately pursue?” Even in the criminal court system conspiracy requires more than simply discussing a criminal act, not that the introduction of ant-protestors would have been criminal.